On the Run
by Fangirl21
Summary: A week after Ron ditches Harry and Hermione, Hermione has become an empty shell of the person she once was. Frustrated and upset to see his best friend so unlike herself, Harry decides to go get something that will cheer her up. Promising to be back within ten minutes, Harry has to think quickly to find something good. Will a different Weasley be able to help him out?


**A/N: Hey guys. This is just a little one-shot I wrote, that takes place in the seventh book. Hope you like it. Review? **

Harry poked the thin, dry branches with the end of his wand. "Incendio," he muttered, and a roaring fire sprung up, consuming the brittle branches. "Oy! Hermione! I've got the fire going," he called out, and Hermione came over and sat down next to him. In the area they were currently staying at, there was hardly any wood to use for making fire, so they had to make the most out of what they had.

"Thanks, Harry," said Hermione quietly, rubbing her pale hands over the fire. Harry did the same, and tried to squash down the feeling of guilt that was becoming more and more familiar these days. Ever since Ron had left a week ago, Hermione basically shrank back into her own shell. Of course, she helped Harry with finding the horcruxes and came up with brilliant theories and all, but when it came to personal matters, Hermione's eyes were dead, and she had nothing to say. Harry couldn't really blame her.

"No problem, 'Mione," Harry said, attempting a cheerful voice. Hermione's eyes flickered towards him, but she went back to staring at her hands in silence. "Anyways," Harry said, "I've got a surprise for you."

After waiting for several moments, Hermione finally said, "Oh, really?"

Harry nodded eagerly. "Yep. I think you'll like it. But I have to go get it first, so you'll have to wait here by yourself for a bit. Is that alright?" Harry felt a little bad for leaving Hermione all alone, but he would only be gone for a few minutes.

"Of course, Harry," replied Hermione. "I assume you'll be back within ten minutes?"

"I swear. If anything happens, just apparate immediately to the last place we stopped, alright?" Harry said.

"Mmhmm," mumbled Hermione, her doe-like brown eyes watching the fire start to dwindle. Harry was about to apparate when he saw Hermione's eyes starting to turn a little pink. He reached over and hugged her, kissing her cheek lightly. "I'll be back in no time. Go in the tent and just do the usual spells, okay?" He paused before whispering, "Stay safe." Hermione looked up at him, struggling to keep calm. She nodded, and leaned into his hug. After a few moments, Harry pulled back and tousled her hair. With one final look at the person he cared most about in the world, Harry spun on his heel and disapparated into the darkness.

* * *

Harry appeared in a dark alley near Charing Cross Road, the Muggle street that led to the Leaky Cauldron. Harry didn't really have any specific plan, but he had just told Hermione that so she would cheer up. And now he had less than ten minutes to find something. Harry sighed. He could be such an idiot sometimes. Harry shoved his hands in his jeans' pockets, and wondered what to do next. After thinking for few minutes, Harry got a brilliant idea. Sure, it was extremely risky, like Hermione-would-kill-him-if-she-knew-what-he-was-doing risky, but Harry thought it was worth it.

First Harry set out changing his appearance, trying to do it the same way Hermione had been practicing on Ron up until a few weeks ago. Of course, Hermione could have done it absolutely brilliantly, but Harry had managed to turn his hair blonde, grow it out long enough to cover his scar, give himself a mustache and a scruffy beard, and also change his eyes' color to brown. Satisfied, Harry then did the disillusionment charm on himself, feeling the familiar runny-egg feeling spread all over his body. Once he was completely invisible, Harry closed his eyes tightly and prayed for the best. Turning on his heel once more, he disapparated from the area and hoped for the best.

"Bloody hell," hissed Harry as he apparated into Diagon Alley. He was about half an inch away from a bumbling old witch hurrying down the street. It was almost dark and the street was completely empty except the few stragglers hurrying to make it home. Harry shook his head and turned to look at the store he had come for. Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. Harry grinned to himself, looking at the neon signs that easily outshone every other drab shop on the street. "But how do I get in...?" wondered Harry out loud.

"Through here?" a voice suggested. Harry spun to face the speaker, his wand out and ready. Checking himself, Harry saw that he was still invisible, so the stranger shouldn't be able to see him. Harry inched closer, trying to make out the mystery person's face in the darkness. He was about to give up and disapparated when the voice said "Who are you?"

Harry sighed with relief when he recognized the red freckles and gangly figure that could only be Fred - or George - Weasley. Just as Harry was about to start speaking he realized how dangerous and risky it was, initiating any contact at all with the Weasleys. Then he remembered Hermione's heartbroken face and sighed. This was the best and fastest way to do something for her. He cleared his throat and said "Hello. I was hoping to get something from your shop before it closed, Mr. Weasley," Harry used a deep German accent and hoped it would work. Fred (or George) cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, sir, our shop was just about to close for today, but you may come inside if you hurry. I must insist that you remove your disillusionment charm though," the Weasley twin said, ushering Harry inside. Harry was too shocked at hearing the Weasley so polite to actual process anything. Harry wondered if he could risk taking off his disillusionment charm, and after debating in his head for a moment, he complied.

Harry looked at Fred who looked right back at him without any shock or surprise on his face. The most surprising thing was Fred actually just looked tired and worn out. When he saw Harry staring he conjured up a brilliant smile, and said "Well, feel free to look around sir."

Suddenly the thought came to Harry that the Weasley twin in front of him could be an impostor so Harry whipped out his wand and pointed it at Fred's nose. Fred looked surprised but didn't do anything. "Tell me," Harry began. "How many galleons did Harry Potter give to you to start this shop, and where?"

A look of understanding passed over Fred's face. "1000," he said. "And after the year was over, on the Hogwarts Express. " Fred peered at Harry from over the wand directly in front of his nose. Slowly, Harry lowered it and coughed.

"Sorry about that. Can't be too careful these days," said Harry gruffly.

Fred nodded. "Of course, sir," he said politely. "But how did you know those things?"

Harry swore inside when he realized his mistake. "Eh? Well, I just happen to have, er, very good connections."

At that moment the other Weasley twin walked in, his hands full with a couple of boxes. "Freddie? Who's that?"

Fred glanced at his twin. "Well, Georgie, it appears he's just a regular old customer."

George squinted at Harry. "Don't you think he looks rather like..." he trailed off when he saw Fred jerking his head. Harry decided that if his cover was blown this much, he might as well make it worse.

"So you know how I have certain...connections? Well I've gotten word that Harry Potter and his friends are in need of some food and other supplies. I was wondering if you could possibly get them for me? But you cant tell anyone. This is the only reliable place I could think of," Harry said, hoping they got the hint.

All at once George brightened up, and he saluted Harry. "Of course, sir. I'll get the food and clothes, sir. Right at once," George winked at Harry before disapparating and left Harry alone with Fred.

"So, what else did you -they- need?" Fred asked, his eyes excited; Harry could see little sparks flying from the end of his wand from all of his excitement.

"Well, I heard that they would really appreciate a few more defense items and things you have here, like the Peruvian instant darkness powder. Also, I'm told that Ms. Granger has been feeling a bit down, and Harry would like it if there was something to cheer her up," Harry said, feeling a little bad about demanding all this. "I'm sure he'll pay you back later," Harry added hastily.

Fred grinned, rubbing his hands together. "I'll get to it right away. Make a nice old care package," Fred wandered off to the back of the store, muttering ideas to himself. Harry took this opportunity to wander around and check out the new items the Weasleys had stocked. Before he could get much of a look around, Harry stopped and looked at the back wall. He dropped the product he was holding and started to slowly back away. His eyes widened as he saw Voldemort strolling closer with a malicious smile on his face. Harry was about to panic and disapparate when he realized that Voldemort had stopped moving and was just standing there. With an enormous amount of relief, Harry realized it was just a boggart and raised his wand.

"Riddikulus," said Harry, and instantly the boggart crumbled and slid back into the closet it came out of. Harry shook his head and tried to calm down. His heart was beating maniacally, and Harry took deep breaths and closed his eyes. His boggart had changed. Although Harry was extremely afraid for all his loved ones, now the thought of Voldemort just scared him because of all the destruction he could cause.

"Sir?" Fred called. "Sir, is everything alright?" He poked his head put from the back room, a box overflowing with products in his hands.

Harry nodded. "Yes, everything is fine. Are the supplies ready?"

Fred beamed at this. He walked over to Harry and showed him the large box. "I got as much as I could in these two minutes, so it isn't much but it'll have to do. Right. This box," he said, putting a smaller box to the side, "is for the lovely Ms. Granger. I'll show you what's inside after this one. In this box, we have extendable ears, portable swamps - throw one in front of a death eater, eh?- fainting fancies, fever fudge, puking pastilles, nosebleed nougats, decoy detonators, Peruvian instant darkness powder, shield cloaks and gloves, bruise remover paste, ton-tongue toffees, self sufficient candles, and wildfire whizbangs."

"Wow," said Harry, impressed. "That's amazing."

Fred leaned closer. "Listen, Har- I mean, sir. I'm also giving you a couple of our new products that are supplied exclusively to the Order. Now listen up. The first one is a bottle of Counter-Veritaserum," he said, showing Harry a blue bottle with clear liquid in it. "If you take a few drops every morning and every night, eventually you'll become resistant to Veritaserum."

"But...how on earth did you manage to do that?" asked Harry incredulously.

Fred grinned. "Sorry sir. Trade secret. Anyway, the other new product are our Mini Sneakoscopes." He dangled a chain in front of Harry, a clear orb hanging at the end of it. "You just put it around your neck ad then it'll glow if there's any dangerous person around, and you can see the face of the person inside. It's been 100% accurate so far."

"Wow. That is pretty handy," admitted Harry.

"Isn't it?" Fred grabbed a handful of Mini Sneakoscopes from their box and threw it into Harry's. Nestling in a couple of bottles of Counter-Veritaserum, Fred turned back to Harry and grabbed the box now labeled _Miss Granger_. "Alright, now we'll just go through 'Mione's box. It's all mainly girly stuff, but it can't hurt showing you, right?"

Harry nodded. "Of course. But I'm a bit short on time, so..."

"Yes, yes, I'll hurry up," Fred pulled out a bottle of swirly, glittery pink liquid. "Here we have one of our finest perfumes for the lady. To make it extra special, I added a refilling charm, so it won't ever run out. We have tons more of these things since we just got inspired from a muggle shop; there's scented lotion and makeup and nail polish and even some of Sleakeazy's Hair Potion."

"Well, er, while all of this is amazing and everything, you do realize she's on the run with the most wanted wizard in the world?" Harry asked.

"Of course," Fred replied indignantly, "which is why I'm going to make it all fit inside here." Fred took out a small box the size of Harry's finger. Muttering the same charm Hermione had used on her purse, Fred beamed and shoved everything inside the little black box. "There we go. That's bound to cheer her up."

"Thanks, mate. I'm just going to -" Harry was cut off by Fred.

"Wait. This is for Hermione, too," Fred held out an old, wrapped book. "It's a muggle book with all of their fairy tales. I thought Hermione wouldn't mind reading them again," Fred said quietly.

Harry looked at Fred, who was staring at the book with a bit of sadness in his face. "Thanks, mate."

Suddenly a loud crack announced George's return. He was holding several boxes piled high with food and clothes. "I'm back. I told mum that Freddie and I would be staying here for the week so she gave us all this stuff."

"The clothes, Georgie?" asked Fred, with one of his red eyebrows raised.

"Oh, well, i may or may not have knicked some stuff from Ginny's and Dad's closet," George said, winking. "Gin's alright by the way. Says she misses y- I mean Harry Potter."

Harry nodded, relief filling him as he heard that his ex-girlfriend was alright. One less thing to worry about. "Thanks, George. Could you just bring the boxes here real quick? I just want to put another Undectable Extension Charm on my mokeskin bag so I can fit all of this in there."

Harry took off the bag that normally hung around his neck. Pointing his wand inside, he said the necessary charm and with help from Fred and George, put all the boxes inside. He looked up at the two of them and straightened. "Thanks. You don't know how much this will help them. I'm sure they'll repay you as soon as this mess is over."

"No problem, sir," George said solemnly, and he shook Harry's hand.

"Of course. You can count on us anytime. Take care, mate," Fred said, shaking Harry's hand. Just as he was turning on his heel to apparate, Harry heard Fred lean in and whisper, "Tell her to keep her chin up, alright?" Harry only had time to slightly nod before he vanished, the two ginger twins staring after him.

* * *

"Hermione?" called Harry. "Hermione, I'm back." First changing his appearance back to normal, he leaned forward and waved his arm around until he grasped the tent. He said the spell that would open it only for him or Hermione, and went inside, shaking snow out of his hair. "Hermione?" he asked uncertainly.

"I'm right here, Harry," replied Hermione. She poked her head out from behind the book she was holding.

"Oh, great!" Harry said, brightening. "I've got the surprise! Well, several surprises really."

Hermione looked a little worried. "I hope you didn't do anything foolish Harry."

Harry waved her concern away. "No, no. Well, maybe." At Hermione's stern look, he hurried on. "Here, let me just show you first." He pulled out the now extremely heavy mokeskin bag and opened it. Hermione looked unimpressed. Harry set it down on the table and reached inside, grabbing a box. Ignoring Hermione's questions, he continued to yank out all the boxes until the old wooden table was creaking from all the pressure.

"Harry? Harry! What is this?!" Hermione exclaimed.

Harry grinned at her. "This is a little present from the Weasley twins."

"Harry! You know we're not supposed to involve anyone else! How could you endanger them like that?" Hermione scolded.

Harry rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, I disguised myself," he said feebly.

"And I don't suppose they somehow miraculously didn't recognize you?" Hermione asked. When Harry said nothing, she shook her head and sighed. "Honestly Harry, sometimes I think I'll die from worrying abut you so much. But since you've already gone and done whatever, let's see what you got."

Harry brightened up at this. "Alright," he began, and lifted up the two boxes George had said had their clothes in it. "These are some clothes, according to George." Opening one box and seeing it full of girls' clothes, he tossed it to Hermione. Opening his own box, he saw several pairs of different sized jeans (no doubt due to Mr. Weasley's love of muggle things), multiple knit sweaters, a couple of pajama pants, and a few t-shirts. After digging around some more, he found a large coat, and a scruffy, fat maroon blanket. Spreading the things on the bed, he looked at Hermione, and asked, "What have you got?"

Hermione smiled a bit, and answered "Well, there were a couple of Ginny's jeans, I'm guessing, a few sweatpants, two sweaters Mrs. Weasley knitted, and a coat. I'm not done yet though," she said. Harry watched her a she pulled out more clothes, including a pair of fuzzy socks.

"What's wrong?" he asked when Hermione pressed her lips together.

"Well, it was definitely one of the Weasley twins who packed this," she said, plucking up something from the box. Harry burst out laughing when he saw it was a hot pink and black lacy bra, as Hermione looked at it with distaste. As Harry kept laughing though, he could have sworn he saw the corner of her mouth twitch for the first time in a week.

"Ah, well, the twins are always good for a laugh even in the worst of times," chuckled Harry. He moved on to the several boxes packed with food. "Here," he said, sliding a few to Hermione. "Oh god, this looks so good," moaned Harry. He hadn't seen Mrs. Weasley's cooking in months. Taking out everything in the box, Harry quickly realized that she had put some sort of charm on it so it wouldn't spoil. He grinned as he saw Hermione had the same type of food. "How long do you reckon this'll last?" he called.

Hermione tilted her head to the side, surveying the bounty. "I'd say it'll be good for a week or two, as long as you don't pig out," she said, a small smile tugging at her mouth.

Harry beamed. "I don't know, Hermione, I could say you eat even more than me," he said in a teasing voice.

Hermione finally cracked and smiled a little. "What's next?" she asked.

Harry showed her the box full of items from the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. "Fred put in loads of helpful stuff. We can look through that later. This is for you," he said, handing her the box labeled Ms. Granger in loopy cursive.

She smiled as she took the box. "Fred sent this?" Harry nodded. She opened the box and pulled out two large pink and purple bottles. "Scented lotion?" she asked, amused. "Perfume? Do they think I'm running a spa while on the run?" she asked, giggling. "Well I'll just save this for later. Is there anything else?"

Harry pulled out the book from his pocket. "Here," he said quietly. "From Fred. He said to keep your chin up."

Hermione took the book, and she held it carefully as she read the title. Running her fingertips on the leather bound book, she pulled it close to her chest, her eyes full of wonder. As she closed her eyes, she heard something fluttering to the ground. She bent down and grabbed the two papers. Her eyes filled with tears when she saw what they were. Pictures. One was of her and the Weasleys and Harry, all laughing and waving at the camera. The other one was only of her and her parents. Tears started dripping off her face as she turned it over and saw Fred's handwriting.

**Hermione-**

**We miss you. We want to see that pretty little smile again soon, alright? And I want to hear how you like our new special WonderWitch products. We loveeee you. (**_at this Hermione laughed as she could imagine Fred's half mocking, half flirty voice_**) **

**Love,**

**Freddie**

"Hermione? Are you alright?" came Harry's concerned voice. She smiled at him through her tears, using her sleeve to mop them up.

"Yes, yes. Of course I am, Harry," she told him, starting to hiccup.

He moved closer to her and pulled her to himself, putting his face in her hair. "Don't ever do that again," he whispered. Hermione nodded since she knew exactly what he was talking about. Her becoming an empty shell of the person she was before. As they stood locked in their embrace, Hermione moved her head back, surprised. She moved Harry's head up, and saw his face wet.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, burying her face in his chest. "So, so sorry. Please don't cry, Harry. I'm okay now." She leaned up and kissed his nose, wrapping her arms around his neck. He pulled her closer, and they stood wrapped in each other's arms. "Don't worry. We'll be okay."


End file.
